Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his Department’s publication of spending over £500 with a Government procurement card, whether the items recorded as purchases from ROYALCOLLECTION.ORG in (i) February 2021, (ii) March 2021, (iii) January 2022, (iv) March 2022, (v) May 2022 and (vi) June 2022 were from royalcollectionshop.co.uk; what the five most expensive items purchased from that supplier were in those six months; and for what purpose were those five items purchased.

This information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Government Procurement Cards provide an efficient route to enable key staff to procure goods and services, necessary to the promotion of British interests overseas and the maintenance of our embassies and high commissions. All purchases are subject to authorisation by managers and audit checks. Local budgets are scrutinised for waste, and fraud is monitored by our audit teams to ensure best value to the tax payer.